On Feb. 27, Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Va., will roll out its production of the late Larry Shue's "The Foreigner," which first premiered in Milwaukee 25 years ago.
The performance runs through March 16.
I liked the way the theatre's web site describes the play's complicated, but hilarious plot:
"You can't believe everything you hear. Just ask Englishman Charlie Baker, an out-of-place guest at a remote fishing lodge in Georgia. When Charlie's shyness keeps him tongue-tied, his fellow Brit tries to cover by telling the locals that Charlie can't understand English!"
After its initial run at The Milwaukee Repetory Theatre, "The Foreigner" landed on Broadway in 1984, which makes me wish we had seen it instead of "Zorba the Greek" when we went up to New York that year. But, Anthony Quinn is dead now, and assuredly there are no actors who are quite like him, well ok, maybe Tony Curtis.
Shue himself was actually in the cast for the play on Broadway and he played 'Froggy' LeSueur. Later, actor Ian Trigger replaced Shue as Froggy in the Broadway production, and the actor/playwright played Charlie.
Shue was tragically killed in a plane crash near Staunton, Va., about a year later. I saw his friend actor Bev Appleton, who was in Terence Malick's film "A New World," give a brilliant tribute to him at his theatre in Harrisonburg, Va., some seven years ago.
"The Village Voice" called "The Foreigner" a play that is 'a constant invitation to relax and laugh at the foolishness of life."
Tickets for the Mill Mountain performance are $25-30. The box office can be reached at (540) 342-5740 or 1-800-317-6455.
While in Roanoke, I have occasionally participated in Mill Mountain's No Shame Theatre, which is the brainchild of actor/playwright Todd Ristau. No Shame features skits, jugglers, banjo picking and poetry readings. To my knowledge, no one has walked barefoot on broken glass yet, and I will not volunteer to be the first.
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